It’s all right to be friendly. And it’s all right to tell
something funny sometimes—but it is possible to spend too much of your time doing that. The Bible even says something about jesting and joking that are not convenient. It doesn’t say they are a sin necessarily, but it says they are not convenient.
EPHESIANS 5:4
4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor
jesting, which are not convenient: but rather
giving of thanks.

I was holding a meeting one time for a fellow, a
fine fellow. I think a lot of him. He’s changed
considerably. But I never saw a fellow as full of jokes as he was then. We had two services a day, and every time I saw him he’d tell me a new joke. I don’t see how in the world he could remember them. He’d tell me at least three a day which were brand new. Morning service, evening service, and when we’d go out for a
bite to eat after church he’d have another one for me; sometimes several.

I usually quote my scripture as I preach and once when we were out eating he said, “I wish I could remember scriptures like you do.”
I said, “You could if you’d spend as much time on them as you do on jokes. How do you remember jokes? I can’t remember them. I go to tell some of them and get them all messed up.”
The thing about it was I wasn’t interested in them. Now don’t go off and say I said it was wrong to tell something funny.

I didn’t say that at all. I said it is wrong to put that first and just blab, blab, blab, blab, and leave God out. I’m talking about things that will hinder our spiritual growth. We are never going to grow spiritually and just feed and talk on those kinds
of things.
I’m a preacher and I fellowship with preachers
more than anyone else. It’s a strange thing, but
sometimes in trying to fellowship with preachers you can’t find too many you can really talk to about spiritual things.

I’ve held meetings in church after church—Full Gospel churches—and preacher after preacher wants only to talk about fishing and hunting, or about how many cattle they have down on their
ranch, or how many houses they have, or how much property they have. I think it’s all right to go fishing.

It’s all right to go hunting. It’s all right to have
property. I’m glad they do. But if you’d try to mention the things of God and get in the least bit deep, they’d look at you like you were a nut.
I’m glad it’s not that way with some folks. But it is that way with too many. And we cannot grow
spiritually and spend all our time talking about natural things.